In my five-month hiatus from the corporate world, I have really taken my cooking and meal planning skills to the next level. As an amateur home chef, I aim to make healthy, budget-friendly meals. And as much I do genuinely enjoy cooking, needing to cook three meals a day every day is exhausting, thus I have become a slave to the meal prep game. The following meal plan is healthy, budget-friendly, prevents waste, and doesn’t require cooking a meal every single day.

I’d highly recommend going to the grocery store on Sunday and prepping your Monday-Wednesday meals. I won’t lie, this is a big undertaking, but I find it worth it in that you won’t have to cook again until Thursday.

Sunday Grocery List

• 18 Eggs
• 1 LB Italian Sausage
• 2 Cups Low-Fat Shredded Cheese (I went sharp cheddar)
• 1 Red Bell Pepper
• 2 Green Bell Peppers
• 1 Large Onion (I went yellow onion because it’s the cheapest)
• 3 Avocados
• 6 Pita Wraps
• 10 oz Mozzarella Balls
• 7 oz Kalamata Olives
• 8.5 oz Sun-dried tomatoes (julienne cut is preferred)
• 39 Low-Fat Mayonnaise
• 1 LB Cottage Cheese
• Dill (the dry seasoning works fine)
• 10 Chicken Breasts
• 32 oz Plain Non-Fat Greek Yogurt
• Zero added sugar Granola (size doesn’t matter, in this case)
• 6 oz Raspberries
• 1 Pint Blueberries
• 2 LB Strawberries
• 1 LB Orzo Pasta
• 10 Oz Grape Tomatoes
• English Cucumber
• 7oz Feta in Brine
• Pepperocini (we only need half a cup, but these can last a while so size doesn’t really matter)

First, we’re going to marinate some chickens and soft boil some eggs

1. Place 4 chicken breasts in a large ziplock bag. We’ll refer to this as bag #1.
2. Place 3 chicken breasts in a separate large ziplock bag. We’ll refer to this as bag #2.
3. Put the following ingredients in bag #1
   • 1/3 cup olive oil
   • 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
   • 4 tablespoons lemon juice
   • 1 teaspoon ground mustard (optional, if you have it, great. If not, the dish won’t be ruined)
   • 1 tablespoon dill
   • 1 tablespoon white rice vinegar (regular vinegar is a fine substitute)
   • 3 teaspoons honey
   • 1/2 teaspoon salt
4. Give bag #1 a healthy tossing, and put it in the fridge
5. Put the following ingredients in bag #2
   • 1/4 cup olive oil
   • 2 tablespoons lime juice
   • 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
   • 1 teaspoon chili powder
   • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
   • 1/4 teaspoon paprika
   • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
   • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
   • 1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
   • 1 tablespoon cilantro
6. Give bag #2 a healthy tossing, and put in the freezer
7. Submerge 6 eggs in water and bring to boil. Once boiling, turn off the heat and cover for 5 minutes.
8. After 5 minutes, place eggs into an ice bath. This makes peeling them considerably easier.

Ok, now let’s get started with the egg bake.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. In a skillet over medium high heat, start cooking the Italian sausage.
3. Dice 2/3 of your onion and one of your green bell peppers. Throw that on in there with the Italian sausage. Maybe throw in teaspoon of garlic if you’re feeling it.
4. In a mixing bowl, whisk together 12 eggs (yes, we’ve used all 18 eggs in one day), 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, 3/4 cup of the shredded cheese, and let’s say one tablespoon of salt, and 1/2 tablespoon of pepper.
5. Once the sausage is cooked through, go ahead and stir that into your egg mixture.
6. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray and pour that mixture right in there.
7. Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes, or until your egg mixture looks cooked through. Sometimes you gotta eyeball it.

But wait, there’s more! Chopped Dill Chicken Pita Wrap time!

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. It should already be at 350 from the egg bake, so this should be quick. Look at us already saving some time!
2. Get your final three chicken breasts in a baking dish. Season with olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika. No measurements, just use some judgement.
3. By this time, the oven’s probably preheated. Remember bag #1 marinating in the fridge? Get that into a baking dish, and put both chicken dishes into the oven. Bake uncovered for 40-45 minutes, or (and this is really important) until the chicken is cooked through.
4. While the chicken cooks, arrange the following ingredients on a large cutting board:
   • 1 cup kalamata olives
   • 10 oz Mozzarella Balls
   • 6 Soft Boiled Eggs, which is the rest of your eggs
   • 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
   • 4 tablespoons siracha
   • 3 tablespoons sesame seeds
   • 1 cup low fat mayo
   • 3 chicken breasts
   • 2 tablespoons of dill
   • 1/2 cup of cottage cheese
5. Now chop those mofos up!
6. When the 3 chicken breasts are done cooking, chop those up and add to the mixture.
7. Store the mixture in the fridge. Add a diced avocado to the mix right before consuming. Otherwise, it gets all brown and mushy and nobody wants that.

Oh my god, we’re not done? Not quite, lemon chicken orzo time.

1. Cook the 1 LB Orzo according to the package instructions. Reserve like a quarter cup of pasta water
2. In a large bowl add the following:
   • 1 Cucumber, diced
   • ~8 oz of the grape tomatoes, halved
   • 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, which should be the rest of the jar
   • 1 cup kalamata olives, which should be the rest of the jar
   • 1/2 cup pepperocini
   • ~3.5 oz (or half the block) of feta, chopped
   • 1/3 onion, which is the rest of your onion, diced
   • 1 green bell pepper diced
   • 4 cooked marinated chicken breasts, cut into cubes, strips, or however you think you want it cut
3. I’m sure the Orzo is ready by now, so let’s dump that in too
4. In a small mixing bowl let’s make the dressing
   • 3/4 cup olive oil
   • 1 tablespoon vinegar (whatever kind you got, I use red wine vinegar)
   • 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water
   • 2 tablespoons feta brine
   • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
   • 1/2 teaspoon salt
   • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
   • 1 tablespoon oregano
5. Mix that all up, and pour over your orzo pasta
6. Divide into 8 equal portions

No, seriously, there can’t be more. Greek yogurt time!

Ok, this part is totally optional. At this point, I was ready to quit cooking forever, so I ended up doing these in the morning. But on the off chance you have a higher will power than I did, here you go:

1. Hope you have six good yogurt containers for this. If you do, take them out.
2. Add two large spoonfuls of Greek Yogurt to each container. Sorry I don’t have a better measurement for you, but this ain’t a science
3. Add ~2 tablespoons of Granola to each container. I didn’t use a tablespoon for this, I’m just guessing. Like I said, not a science
4. I added exactly 1 chopped strawberry, 2 raspberries, and 4 blueberries to each container. Feels like the right amount to have the fruit last for the week, but we’ll see.
5. I added a drizzle of honey to each container, because why not.

Well, there you have it. What a day. Godspeed.